Proposal: Community Council Formation (Updated as of 7/28)

Proposal Type: Community

Requested Budget: 2,120,000 SCR (avg $0.32)

Timeline: 6 Months

Lead Team: Scroll Foundation + Recruited Council Members

Summary

This proposal aims to establish the Community Council (CC) a dedicated group focused on supporting broad community growth and ensuring that community remains a core pillar of Scroll’s governance and ecosystem development. The CC will oversee and guide key community-driven programs, including Local Nodes, grassroots initiatives, and event grants, while maintaining alignment with Scroll’s goals and objectives.

In addition to managing and evolving the Local Nodes Framework, the CC will play a strategic role in shaping how the Scroll community grows, participates, and contributes from advising local leaders to foster new initiatives that drive meaningful ecosystem engagement.

Motivation

Since the rollout of the Local Nodes program, demand for a structured oversight and support mechanism has become increasingly clear. A number of proposals have surfaced, but decentralized evaluation, feedback loops, and ongoing advisory have remained limited and centralized.

The Community Council would enable:

• A clear point of contact for Local Node leaders,

• A distributed and accountable evaluation process,

• Long-term sustainability of the Local Nodes framework.

Additionally, a lightweight community support grant process managed by the CC could allow for reactive community support in regions where Scroll’s presence is emerging without overburdening the core team or DAO processes.

Execution Plan

Council Size & Commitment

• Council size: Capped at 5 Members

  • 2 Scroll Foundation members (Gov / Community team)

  • 1 Professional Community Builder

  • 2 Delegates

• Time commitment: ~10 hours/week

• Term duration: 6 months

• Criteria:

  • Community building expertise, this is the major selection criteria, being able to understand the ins and outs of growing community in the Layer 2 and broader Ethereum ecosystem
  • Grants program experience, nice to have for at least 1 of the 3 selected members
  • Strategic oversight, aligning CC initiatives with broader DAO and global alignment
  • No conflict of interests with competing protocols
  • Community Council members cannot be active members of any Local Node at any capacity

• Ramp-up Dynamics:

  • Based on forum feedback, there are concerns that a five-member council may be excessive for the initial scope of work. To address this, we propose a phased approach to onboarding council members.
  • We will begin by appointing one member, a community-building expert.
  • As the workload increases or the need for broader input arises, the council will reopen the application process to fill additional seats. This will be determined at the discretion of the council.
  • At the time of voting on this proposal, the council will have a maximum of five seats, distributed as follows:
    • 2 Scroll Foundation members (Governance/Community teams)
    • 1 professional community builder
    • 2 delegates

• Timeline:

  • Application start date - August 11
  • Interview stage - August 11 - 20
  • Final decisions - August 21
  • Veto window - August 21 - 23
  • Council start date - August 24

• Application form: https://tally.so/r/mRq1xp

Core Responsibilities

Local Node Evaluation, Oversight, and Evolution

The Local Node program is a cornerstone of Scroll’s decentralized community growth strategy, but without structured oversight and consistent support, its long-term success is at risk. The Community Council is being proposed not as an operational add-on, but as a critical governance layer to ensure the program scales with accountability, consistency, and transparency.

The responsibilities tied to Local Node governance are extensive and ongoing, and cannot be realistically sustained by a single individual or ad hoc group. These include:

• Rigorous Evaluation of Proposals

  • Local Nodes go through a two-step process: regional evaluation and individual proposals.
  • These require public feedback, due diligence, and objective scoring, all of which must be documented and communicated to the DAO and applicants.
  • A tracking system must be maintained to ensure process clarity and prevent bottlenecks or misalignment.

• Ongoing Performance Monitoring

  • Each approved node must submit monthly reports and be measured against key performance indicators (Karma dashboards, event metrics, ecosystem outcomes).
  • This data needs to be interpreted and flagged when concerns, risks, or standout performance arise. Something that directly affects disbursements and strategic guidance.

• Framework Evolution and Feedback Loops

  • As the program matures, the Local Node Framework must be updated to reflect learnings, address edge cases, and stay aligned with Scroll’s broader ecosystem goals.
  • This requires structured feedback sessions, quarterly updates to the DAO, and the creation of clear support materials for node operators.

As shared in the forum, past experience shows that a single point of contact is insufficient to handle the volume and complexity of Local Node operations. Spreading these responsibilities across a Council ensures:

• Continuity: Knowledge isn’t siloed in one individual.
• Accountability: Multiple reviewers lead to more objective, well-rounded decisions.
• Scalability: As more Local Nodes come online, the workload grows — a shared Council structure is better suited to handle it.

Ultimately, this is about making sure that Scroll’s community-led initiatives are not just launched, but monitored, guided, and continuously improved. A Council with dedicated oversight responsibilities is essential to deliver on that promise.

Local Node oversight commitments:

1. Local Node Evaluation
   • Review and vote on Regional Evaluations and Local Node proposals
   • Share feedback publicly via forum comments
   • Maintain tracking sheet of evaluations and status updates
2. Active Node Oversight
   • Review monthly reports from active nodes
   • Maintain updated node KPI tracker (Karma, metrics, outcomes)
   • Flag concerns, risks, or exceptional performance to the DAO
3. Framework Maintenance
   • Propose edits or improvements to the LN Framework and Expectations document
   • Hold feedback sessions with Local Node leads
   • Submit quarterly updates to DAO Forum summarizing changes or needs
   • Create supporting material for Local Nodes

Community Support through a Grants Pilot

One of the most consistent pieces of feedback we receive from community members, partners, and ecosystem builders is the need for support and presence at local and global events. Despite growing interest in Scroll across regions, we currently lack any formal mechanism to financially support community-led initiatives outside of Local Nodes, like meetups, hackathons, or small conferences, even when these directly contribute to Scroll’s visibility and adoption.

• Momentum is building. With programs like Open Economy in motion and EtherFi Cash becoming Scroll’s main use case, this is the right time to be more proactive rather than conservative. Communities are reaching out to us, but without a grants mechanism, we are forced to say no or remain silent.
• Strategic events are happening. From Ethereum Mexico to Devconnect to rising grassroots activity across Africa, these are prime opportunities for Scroll to show up. But right now, we are absent.
• Our tech is ready to showcase. As our product stack and developer ecosystem mature, community-facing events are becoming increasingly valuable touchpoints to attract talent, promote native projects, and onboard users.
• This is not about large-scale funding. We're not talking about A tier-level sponsorships ($60k+). These are often small asks: $1–5k to co-sponsor a meetup, help with sponsoring small events, or provide swag. But collectively, they create a global presence and deepen our ties with builders and users. Needless to say, this is for all of those regions and communities that perhaps are not ready for a Local Node.

The intent of the Community Council is not only to execute pre-defined tasks but to help shape the community growth strategy alongside Scroll DAO, Scroll Foundation and Up Labs. Including a grants component gives the Council the flexibility to:

• Support emerging communities aligned with our goals
• Reward ongoing grassroots efforts
• Build trust and maintain relationships with local leaders
• Fill gaps where Scroll’s presence is currently missing

Community Support Grant commitments:

1. Pilot a simple community grant stream (max 50,000 SCR per event)
2. Evaluate proposals with clear alignment to Scroll values
3. Ensure geographic diversity and transparency
4. Criteria for selection and distribution to be determined within the council

Governance, Voting & Budget

The CC would be able to use its budget to approve new community growth initiatives. After the first 6 months, the council will need to produce a charter that outlines its duties and relevant governance processes. This charter will be needed to request more budget or to extend its window of activity beyond the first 6 months if there is remaining budget.

To start, the multi-sig will be managed by the Foundation. The charter that will be created in these first 6 months will outline a future policy for the multi-sig.

Budget Request

• Budget Breakdown: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uYet0Hx8Nd9nAO5hw0mMcxj-TVg23DCr7F7UJLUGkTs/edit?usp=sharing
• Budget has been updated as of 7/28 with the average rate of the past 7 days of $0.32 <> 1 SCR. Final SCR amount will be taken into account during the time of disbursement after being approved, using the past 7 day average.
• Total: 2,120,000 SCR
  • ~301,000 SCR allocated for operational costs (stipends, tools, reporting infra)
  • ~1,500,000 SCR reserved for Local Node Operations
  • ~312,000 SCR for Community Support Grants
• Budget in USD: $678,400

Internal Decision-Making

• Quorum: Simple majority to approve a proposal within the Council, f.e. 2/3 votes in favor can pass a proposal
• High-stakes decisions (e.g., >50,000 SCR): Unanimous decision is required to pass high-stakes decisions, f.e. 3/3 votes in favor can pass a proposal
• Transparency:
  • Monthly meeting notes posted within 3 business days
  • Public tracker of evaluations, decisions, and active node statuses
  • Grant approvals posted to forum within 48 hours

If any of the 1.8m SCR is needed for anything besides a community growth initiative, then CC members can put forth a proposal that would require a Unanimous vote and would need to clear a 3 business day veto window (if there is at least 25% voting against this non-community growth spend in the veto, then it does not pass).

Passing this proposal is not a commitment to spend these funds no matter what. If this proposal does pass, that means the CC has up to these amounts to spend. Any funds not used will be returned to the DAO treasury.

Charter Expectations

Before renewal, the Community Council will deliver a charter outlining:

• Long-term scope (Local Nodes + Grants + more)
• Term limits and re-appointment process
• Budget escalation thresholds
• Integration with Foundation, DAO governance, and other Councils
• Future multi-sig signers and guidelines

Timeline

Month	Milestone
0 - 1	Council recruited & approved
	Council begins: reviews active nodes & pending proposals
2 - 3	First feedback round + framework audit
	Optional pilot of event grants
4–5	Continued node advisory, 1:1 calls, monthly tracking
6	Final report + proposal for renewal/expansion

Evaluation Criteria

Success for the Community Council in its first 6 months will be evaluated by:

• Local Node evaluation turnaround time (≤10 days average)✅
• 100% of active node reports reviewed + responded to✅
• Framework improvements proposed or implemented✅
• Public meeting notes shared consistently✅
• Community support grants: # of regions supported, feedback from recipients✅
• Community satisfaction survey or feedback snapshot, community sentiment report✅

Conclusion

This proposal introduces a focused, lightweight Council that can take over key operational responsibilities around Local Nodes while experimenting with broader community support mechanisms. With clear responsibilities, and transparent processes, the Community Council can strengthen Scroll DAO’s community-driven infrastructure and prepare for more scalable governance going forward.